Pace University Presents HAMLET, 10/2-7

Following a widely acclaimed tour and run at the Globe in 2011, Shakespeare's Globe returns to the Schimmel Center, the company's New York home, elemental production of Hamlet. Using an Elizabethan-inspired stage in this scaled-down production, a handful of energetic players will perform this inexhaustible play.

This production began its American tour in Washington DC where Peter Marks of The Washington Post exclaimed "it's a ripping good yarn" and that directors "Dromgoole and Buckhurst locate freshness on this rough turf." Marks goes on to say that "this production shows that under the right circumstances that Hamlet can indeed be cut down."

Shakespeare’s Globe’s production of Hamlet began its tour of the United States in September in Washington DC. Performed on an Elizabethan booth stage – influenced by paintings and etchings from Shakespeare’s time and designed by Tony Award nominee Jonathan Fensom (Journey’s End, Broadway) – this travelling production follows the pattern of the Globe’s tours from 400 years ago. After a long tour around many of the UK and Europe’s most charismatic settings, including the Globe itself, the Bodleian Library and Elsinore, Hamlet opened in Washington DC, before heading to New York, Boston and a West Coast tour.

Using a new text created from the Folio of 1623 and the touring Quarto of 1603, Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole, and Globe regular Bill Buckhurst co-direct a bold and fresh production.

Taking on the title role is Michael Benz. Michael was brought up in the UK and studied at Georgetown University in Washington DC, before going to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Michael’s theatre credits include Trevor Nunn’s productions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Ferdinand in The Tempest with Ralph Fiennes.

Music has been composed by Bill Barclay, who has previously composed music for Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA and Actors’ Shakespeare Project in Boston, MA. He has held artist residencies for directing, composing, or conducting at Columbia University, the University of Connecticut, Purdue University, Brandeis University, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Virginia, has taught acting at Emerson College and Boston University and been a guest lecturer at Harvard University.